Gawain Jones Wins Hastings Masters

The 88th edition of the Hastings International Congress took place from 28 Dec 2012 - 5 Jan 2013.

The historic town of Hastings on the southern coast of England has hosted chess tournaments for over a century, most famously the 1895 Hastings tournament which is regarded as one of the strongest tournaments ever held.

The main 'Masters' competition was a 10-round Swiss event and Gawain Jones of England finished in first place with an undefeated 7½/10, with eight players just half a point behind.

Jones' crucial victory came in the penultimate round in a hard-fought endgame struggle.

Congrats Gwain and yes Hastings 2013 aint exactly Hastings 1895 (neither are most other tnmts) but at least there is still a Hastings Tnmt taking place and there's always the chance (or hope) it will get stronger and not weaker in future years - not to mention the hope that it will still be played in future years to come!

The final shown game (from round 9) looks like Gawain showed fine endgame technique (including in the Q+R+R vs. Q+R+R game starting on move 34), but black leaves the impressions of having made multiple mistakes throughout. A stronger defender for black may have saved this.

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